


We Are

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Comment Fic 2016 [102]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 20:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8461654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, not all Sentinels are warriors and not all Guides are touchy-feely."Elizabeth Weir observes a Sentinel and a Guide on the first year of the Atlantis Expedition.





	

Elizabeth wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. When she was checking over the updated personnel list for the Atlantis Expedition, she was mostly looking to make sure that John Sheppard was on there, because he had the ATA Gene in spades, and they needed him. But then she saw the asterisk next to his name, and a little italicized capital _G_ next to the asterisk, and as she scanned the list, she saw a few designations with a little italicized capital _S_ , and her breath hitched.  
  
Sheppard was a Guide. The Expedition was going to include Sentinels and Guides. SG-1 had included a Sentinel and a Guide of necessity, because Jack O’Neill was a Sentinel and Daniel Jackson was a Guide and they’d been the first ones through the Stargate (though no one had known Jackson was a Guide at the time; military personnel were required to report either status), but until the effects of gate travel were known on bonded pairs, Sentinels and Guides hadn’t been allowed on gate teams unless they were paired together, which was rare.  
  
That Sheppard was a Guide was baffling, because, well, he was a soldier. Who had little to say, but managed to say a whole lot with just the right sardonic lift of his eyebrow or wry, amused grin. And then Elizabeth saw - Rodney McKay was a Sentinel. No wonder he was cranky all the time, his senses in hyperdrive so he could work, but without a bond partner to keep him steady. It was...backwards. Sentinels were soldiers, used their superior senses to track and hunt and fight and defend, and Guides were their gentler handlers, right?  
  
Only one day she watched McKay get into it with Zelenka for the thousandth time. Both of them were red in the face, and their voices were rising, and then Sheppard reached out, put a hand on McKay’s shoulder, and McKay deflated abruptly. His chest was still heaving and his face was still red, but he said, “Get out of my presence before I strangle you. We’ll resume this discussion later, when you’ve had time to contemplate your stupidity.”  
  
Zelenka devolved into a flurry of swearing in Czech, threw his hands up, and stormed away.  
  
Sheppard snatched his hand back, and McKay shouldered past him, bent over the nearest computer. “I have work to do.”  
  
And that was that.  
  
By all reports, Sheppard was a capable commander. Even though Colonel Sumner’s death was unexpected and the soldiers were wary of Sheppard taking command - even though he was the ranking officer - no one had complaints. Since Sheppard was the military commander of the Expedition, the only person people could complain to about him was Elizabeth, and so far, there were no complaints. So she checked, casually. Ford was a Lieutenant, which meant there was a bit of a gap in the chain of command - no captains - but he liked Sheppard, was proud to be on his gate team. Bates was the head of security, had no complaints, said Sheppard let him do his job and didn’t micromanage and when asked to make decisions, he didn’t make stupid ones.  
  
Four months into what might be life on Atlantis, and Elizabeth didn’t think she understood Sheppard very well, yet. He was charming - heads turned when he passed, and more than one woman had remarked upon his smile and his fine figure - but Elizabeth knew nothing about him. At least, nothing she couldn’t have read in his service jacket.

Rodney she understood all too well. He was a proud man, an arrogant man, but a brilliant man who’d spent part of his life being picked on for being different and the other half of his life being pandered to because he was a genius, and the end result was a man who expected brilliance and didn’t suffer fools gladly and only occasionally remembered social graces.  
  
“He’s really not that atypical,” Marie said while Elizabeth was doing a quick check in the infirmary one day.  
  
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. “You think?”  
  
“Well, his whole being a Sentinel is, and his genius is atypical, sure, but his attitude? He’s like every other scientist I’ve known, except without a filter. When my sister’s husband was in grad school, he used to come home angry all the time because the other grad students did this or screwed up that or almost broke that other million-dollar piece of equipment, and he sounded just like McKay. But he had to be patient with them, because they were learning, and it was no emergency. Here, these scientists should know better, and it’s pretty much always an emergency.” Marie shrugged. “So I give him a pass. Except when he’s being a terrible patient.”  
  
Elizabeth filed that away for later and kept on roaming the city, observing.  
  
Best as the Expedition could tell, Sentinels and Guides were unique to the Milky Way Galaxy - but not Earth - so Teyla was fascinated by Rodney’s super senses and confused by what a Guide even did. She admitted that Rodney’s senses were useful in the field - sometimes, when he wasn’t distracted by something that had caught his interest, or when he wasn’t so overwhelmed that he was cranky beyond belief.  
  
“Does Sheppard help calm him down, though?” Elizabeth asked.  
  
Teyla looked perplexed. “I think he tries, sometimes - _Now, Rodney_ \- but I am not sure he always succeeds.” Her imitation of Sheppard was admirable. “He always notices when Rodney is - overwhelmed by what he senses, though. And he is always the first to notice such things.”  
  
Just because there was a Guide and a Sentinel on a team together didn’t mean they were bonded. When Daniel Jackson had been...gone...Jonas Quinn was also a Guide, and while he’d worked to help O’Neill stay settled, they’d never bonded.  
  
Elizabeth was worried that a constantly-irritated Rodney would have health issues, so she checked with Beckett, who reported that while Rodney had high blood pressure, he wasn’t suffering from lack of a bond, and maybe part of Rodney’s crankiness was just his personality. People were more than just Sentinels or Guides, after all.  
  
And then Kolya and the Genii invaded the city and they almost lost the city and at the end of it, Rodney saved the day. He should have been exultant, glad, proud. But he looked miserable.  
  
Elizabeth lost track of him in the efforts to coordinate return of personnel from their temporary camp on another planet, but once everyone was back, she went looking for him. She could have had Chuck or Amelia radio for him, but she wanted to do this privately. She set her radio for emergency calls only and headed for the scientists’ living section.  
  
She arrived right after Sheppard, who swiped the a hand at the lock on Rodney’s door. Instead of the door opening, the lock flashed, and then the door opened and Rodney said,  
  
“Did you just ring my doorbell?”  
  
“It’s called manners, Rodney. Knock before you enter, as it were.”  
  
“Since when do the doors have doorbells?”  
  
Sheppard rolled his eyes. “Hi, Rodney, I’m fine. How are you?”  
  
“Fine, except where Kolya stabbed me in the arm.”  
  
“Did you get Carson to look at it?” Sheppard sounded calm, but the way he shifted his weight from foot to foot betrayed his nervousness. Elizabeth hadn’t thought he could get this nervous.  
  
“Of course I did.”  
  
“Good.” Sheppard paused, scratched the back of his neck. “So I was thinking. Beers. On the pier. To celebrate kicking some Genii ass. You in?”  
  
Rodney considered. “Sure. Let me grab a jacket.” He made to turn away, and Sheppard reached out, caught his wrist.

Rodney stared down at Sheppard’s hand on his, and Sheppard tugged, leaned in, kissed Rodney on the mouth. Just two points of contact, lips and hands, and Rodney’s entire body relaxed, all of his nervous, buzzing energy draining away.  
  
Rodney pulled back. “You don’t have to do that, you know. Manage me.”  
  
Sheppard sighed, didn’t let go. “I wish you’d believe me. This isn’t just about what we are. It’s about who we are.”  
  
“Who I am is a misanthropic bastard who’s trying to save the universe with his genius. Who you are is a gun-toting cocky jock flyboy who pretends to be dumber than he is so he can hang out with the cool kids.”  
  
“Who I am,” Sheppard said, stepping closer, “is a man who thinks you’re beautiful, and who you are is a man who’s too afraid to admit that’s true.”  
  
Elizabeth saw the moment when Rodney capitulated, his eyes fluttering closed, and Sheppard pulled him for another kiss, one arm locked around Rodney’s waist, the other arm wrapped around his shoulders, and she took that as her cue to go.  
  
The next time she saw them, she deliberately wound Rodney up, just a little bit, and saw when Sheppard nudged him, and she figured things would be all right.


End file.
